By day five our feet were getting pretty sore from all of our walking. Or as one of our group members would say, the dogs were barking. For as much as we’ve walked, this group of Americans has yet to figure out the whole right or left side of the sidewalk thing. In Belfast, it was more obvious that they preferred the left. In Dublin, it’s mixed and we never knew when to use which side.
There are some other things here that threw us for a loop. This includes how light switches for bathrooms are outside in the hall (it’s so strange). There also seems to be unspoken rules about when you can or can’t cross the street and we have no idea what they are—we just followed the crowd or made our own rules. I’m somewhat convinced everyone just makes up their own rules for this, too.
On day five, after a quick coffee shop stop, we headed to the Guinness Storehouse. This was a great experience that was so interesting and immersive. Even though I don’t drink alcohol (and therefore have little interest in Guinness), I really enjoyed it. Included in the tour you get a pint—I made it through two whole sips of alcohol-free Guinness, then decided it was horrible. I can now say I had a Guinness in Ireland though. The attention to detail at the Storehouse was what really impressed me. I’m not a fan of stops like this that have huge amounts of reading. There is a lot of reading at the Storehouse, but they break it up into small chunks that make it easy to absorb. They also mix in a lot of videos, pictures, and other ways of telling the story that help you get lost in the experience, but that you also learn from if you don’t read. Overall, it’s just really well done.
Our third stop today was Dublin Castle. It’s incredible to see the vastness of how royalty lived. We wished more of the building would have been open because it would have been so cool to see all the various rooms. We did learn that the castle is still used as an office building, which is likely why it’s not entirely open to the public.
We also visited Christ Church Cathedral. It’s beautiful and so interesting to see the history. The stained glass, the crypts, and the architecture are fascinating. It almost felt wrong to be able to just explore the cathedral freely, but we also liked that we could navigate as we pleased. We spent more time in some spots than others, which is the beauty of being on your own. We did try to get a tour of the bell tower, but it wasn’t currently available. I’m sure taking some time to book that tour ahead of time would be worth it!
We had some great food stops today, too. For supper, we went to a pub called the Hairy Lemon. It had great Irish pub vibes and awesome food! We also had gelato after, which was a great addition to our other treats from the day.
